In typical CD-R drives or CD-RW drives, which are write-once or rewritable optical disc drives, a command for returning information about the recognition of a recordable optical disc to a host computer is a read disc information command or a read track information command. Information concerning recording must be acquired before the response to this command.
Determination of completion of disc recognition depends on the environment of the host computer. In particular, in a host computer environment in which the priority of reproduction from a loaded optical disc is higher, the return of information about the file system of a recorded area after the completion of spinup is typically considered as the completion of disc recognition. In a host computer environment in which the priority of recording onto a loaded optical disc is higher, the return of information concerning recording in response to the read disc information command or read track information command mentioned above is typically considered as the completion of disc recognition.
However, the differences in disc recognition conditions among host computer environments or the reduction in disc recognition time are not sufficiently considered in prior-art CD-R or CD-RW drives. The timing of acquiring disc information concerning recording after a recordable disc is loaded is fixed in a spinup period or fixed in a period between the completion of spinup and the response to a read disc information command or read track information command.
Furthermore, in the case of acquiring information needed for reproduction operation during spinup and acquiring information needed for write operation, the acquisition of all Table of Contents (hereinafter abbreviated to TOC) information and address translation information, which are required for reproduction, is performed separately from the acquisition of track record format information, which is recorded area track record information concerning recording, and the acquisition of track write position information.
Moreover, the count of error retries for acquiring the information concerning recording within a spinup period is set to considerably large value without making a distinction from the error retry count for acquiring information required for reproduction. Consequently, a timeout error due to failure to acquire information concerning recording occurs frequently during the spinup period.
Furthermore, track record information in a program memory area (hereinafter abbreviated to PMA) is also used for acquiring all TOC information on a multi-session disc. Therefore when a CD-R/RW disc is loaded, the track record information in the PMA is acquired during the spinup.
Furthermore, Constant Linear Velocity (CLV) mode is used for the acquisition of information concerning recording and reproduction, which involves access to an inner area and an outer edge of an optical disc.
In prior-art CD-R/CD-RW drives, the timing of acquiring disc information concerning recording after a recordable optical disc is loaded is fixed in a spinup period or fixed in a period between the completion of spinup and the response to a read disc information command or read track information command. Accordingly, it can take much time to recognize a loaded recordable optical disc, depending on host environments.
Furthermore, the acquisition of track record information about a recorded area and a write position, which is information concerning recording, and the acquisition of information required for reproduction are separately performed during a spinup. Therefore, seeks in long ranges and in the reverse direction frequently occur in an optical disc, leading to increased processing time.
In addition, when the acquisition of information concerning recording is performed within a spinup period, a timeout error can occur during the spinup period because the number of error retries for acquiring information concerning recording is set to a large number.
Furthermore, the acquisition of information in the PMA that is used for acquiring all TOC information on any multi-session CD-R/CD-RW disc increases spinup time.
Furthermore, CLV mode, which involves access to an inner and outer area of an optical disc is used for acquiring information required for recording and reproduction. As a result, acceleration and reduction of the speed of the spindle motor frequently occur, slowing the acquisition.